Who Did It
by Maddycabin6
Summary: For the 150th Hunger Games the tributes are gifted with knowledge. Rated T for violence and drinking.
1. Chapter 1

First ever Hunger Games fanfiction!

Chapter One: The Quarter Quell

''As a reminder that the Capitol sees everything the 24 tributes in the 150th annual Hunger Games, will receive the gift of knowledge. The tributes shall be informed in the night sky the cause of the tributes deaths.'' says President Tavish Dunsworth.

''Mom, I don't want to be reaped. My name is going to be in the bowl thirty-two times. Nobody else is that much. Nobody in District 7 at the age of seventeen.'' I tell my mom.

''Kinsley, you're strong. Even if you are reaped you can win. Your grandfather won thirty years ago. You can too.'' says my mom.

''I know but the carreers are stronger.'' I say.

''You've been swinging axes around since you were a toddler. You can win. If you do get reaped you can win.''

''I'm going to bed. The reaping is in three days.''

''Okay, goodnight.''

When I wake up It's ten after nine and I'm late work. Later I realised I wasn't because it was Saturday. I walk down to the town square only to find Capitol people getting the stage ready for the reaping in front of the Hall of Justice.

"Oh, shoot!" I say aloud. "The Reaping's tomorrow, not Monday."

I start running back home, when I run into my best friend Jesper. He's a year older than me.

"Jesper, hey." I say.

"Kinsley, good morning." he says. I look into his District 7, green eyes, they look distracted.

"It's noon." I say.

"Oh yeah, look at that." he says looking down at his wrist as if he was wearing a watch.(Which he wasn't.)

"Jesper, what's wrong?" I ask before he can get by me.

"Are you eyes greener? Or is your long brown hair darker?" he asks looking at my face.

"Jesper. What's wrong?" I say more forcefully.

"It's just," he says starting to nervously rub his hands together. "My sister, Maple, you know her. She's nineteen now. So, I have to take tesserae for my family now. Just nervous. My name's in forty-seven times." he blurts out.

"Mine's thirty-two." I say. I look up at his face were I usually find a grinning smile, focused green eyes and his perfectly combed spiked brown hair. Instead, I find a nervous twitchy mouth, unfocused wild eyes and messy hair.

"You're not going to the games." I tell him.

"I wish I could be that confident." he says and walks away.

By the time I get home it's time for bed and I lay down in bed thinking about how much tesserae Jesper and I would have combined. A lot.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Reaping

When I wake up my mom is all over me.

"Get washed up. Put your dress on." she says fussing over me.

"Mom, I'm seventeen." I say. "I can get dressed by myself."

After that she leaves me alone. I head to the public showers and hose down. When I get back I put my leaf-green dress on and my mother ties my hair in a tight bun.

When I get to the town square hundreds of kids are already there, either in line or in their sections. I get to the front of the line, get my finger pricked and head to my section.

"Happy Hunger Games!" yells Xandra, district seven's escort. "And may the odds, be _ever_ in your favor!"

"When are the odds ever in anybody's favor." I grumble

"And now brought to you all the way from the Capitol, a short video.

"War, terrible war." says the narrator. "Thirteen districts rebelled against the Capitol that loved them, protected them and fed them." Blah blah blah. I've watched the same video five times now.

"As usual. Ladies first." says Xandra walking over to the girls bowl. Her long orange hair and baby blue dress flowing behind her. Looking towards the crowd smiling so everyone can see her yellow eyeshadow and purple lipstick. She picks a name of the top, holds it in front of her smiling so her unnatural whitened teeth show. As she unfolds the paper the whole square holds their breath.

"Kinsley Everhart." she says excitedly. I open my eyes wide. That's me. I'm going to the Games. I slowly walk up to the stage. All the eyes in the square trailing me. This isn't happening. When I get up on the stage Xander asks me if I was Travith Everhart's granddaughter.

"Yes." I answer.

"Now, are there any volunteers." she asks. The crowd goes silent. I find Jesper's eyes and he sends me a message. "You can win."

"No?" says Xander clearly unhappy without any volunteer excitement.

"And now. For the boys. She picks one off the to again. Walks to the mic one last time and says very clearly.

"Cliff Waterstone." says Xander. Oh no not him! He's the strongest. (and hottest) boy in our district. He's eighteen. I find him in the crowd. His crystal blue eyes nervous and uncertain of what just happened, his brown hair still perfectly combed despite the wind and his usually powerful arms sitting uselessly at his sides. He walks up to the stage much more confidently than I did but I can still see his nervousness in his eyes.

"Any volunteers? No." says Xander. "Well than I present to you the two tributes of district seven in this years Quarter Quell!"

Cliff and I shake hands nervously and leave the stage into the Hall of Justice.

Hope you enjoyed my second chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: The Train

When Cliff and I get on the train we meet our mentor. My grandfather. He won when he was eighteen so he's only forty-eight.

"Hello Kinsley. Cliff." he says. He still looks like he's from District Seven. Which is good because that means no matter how much money he has, he'll always be one of us.

"Mr. Everhart." says Cliff, shaking his hand.

"Please, call me Tavish." he says smiling.

"Okay. Tavish. Usually Johanna Mason is here. Right?" he asks.

"Yes but she died last year. Nobody knew though, the President wanted us to keep it secret." he says.

"She was a Victor. I good one at that. People should have the right to know these things." I say in disbelief.

"I was only told because she was my mentor." he says. "And now. I am yours. So let's get started. First I'll ask you some questions and work with that."

"Sounds good." says Cliff as I nod.

"First things first. I need to know your skills."

"I'm pretty strong, I have very high pain tolerance and like most of District Seven, I know how to swing an ax straight." says Cliff, adding a little smile at the end.

"Very good. Kinsley?" he says looking at me now.

"Well, I'm pretty fast, I'm good at throwing axes, I can climb trees and I can survive in the wild." I say.

"Good, good. Now most of the time the arena is a forest, generally giving us an advantage. But remember this is a Quarter Quell. Everything is different. So don't overlook-

"Yes, yes. He's quite right. New Training Center, new Tribute living quarters and new Gamemakers." interrupts Xander.

"As I was saying." continues Tavish, giving Xander the evil eye, which she doesn't notice because she was re-applying her purple lipstick. "Don't overlook the survival skills. There have been years without even a hint of forest. Frozen tundra, desert, jungle which is not entirely different from a forest, but has many different types of trees then we do, and then of course there was the year where it was all ocean except for one tiny island with the cornucopia surrounded by floating pedestals anchored to the sea floor. I know it's unbelievable, but a Tribute from District Four won that year." he finishes with a smile.

"So, the arena could be anything. Got it." I say. Something beeps. Tavish looks down at his watch.

"Oh. Drinking time." he says with a slightly insane looking smile. He grabs a full bottle of wine and heads to his room.

"He's a drunk." says Cliff.

"Pretty much every Victor, save the career Tributes, 'd go insane and be afraid of reality if they didn't spend every other hour drinking themselves into oblivion." explains Xander.

"You seem to know quite a bit." I say.

"I was a Victor." she laughs.

"But you're from the Capitol." I say, stunned.

"Not born sweetheart. Not born. I was born in District Eleven, but my Victory gave the Capitol such a show they let me move their. I won the 125th games at the age of twelve." she says.

"How? That's crazy." I say.

"I won with a sword and a few foolish allies that I killed as soon as their was only us left." she explains as if it were obvious.

"Kinsley, we should get some sleep. We're arriving tomorrow." says Cliff, clearly anxious to get away from Xander.

"Yeah, okay." I say.

My bedroom was amazing. Soft bed, beautiful view from the window of old North American ruins and my own assortment of clothes perfectly folded in my dresser.

"I could get used to this." I think to myself.

Almost at the Capitol.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Capitol

I wake up, have a nice shower,(the showers smell great) get dressed and head down to the main cabin. When I get there Tavish is passed out on the couch with a beer bottle in his hand, Cliff is eating a breakfast sandwich and Xander was reading a book titled: Keeping up With Capitol Trends. (I didn't know Capitol citizens could read.)

"Oh mahogany!" she says laughing at something in the book.

"Good morning Kinsley." says Cliff, relieved of getting more company than Xander and a passed out (probably drunk) Tavish.

"Morning," I say sitting down across from him. I made myself some scrambled eggs and sat down again. I was about to dig in when Xander yells at me.

"Kinsley! Use the utensils! They're not decoration!"

Me, being from District Seven had never even seen utensils before. Once again I was about to dig in when I see something in the window behind Cliff's head.

"There it is. The Capitol." I say standing up. "It's beautiful," It is. Skyscrapers taller than you could imagine, Buildings that seem to be made of marble or gold or granite. But the craziest thing is the outfits.

"I thought Xander looked ridiculous." I say aloud. "Sorry." I say covering my mouth.

She just laughs.

"That's what I said when I was a Tribute." she says. I feel relieved. I totally thought she was going to kill me. I look back out the window and realise Tavish still isn't up. I go over and wake him.

"Are the Games done yet?" he mumbles before springing up, his eyes wild.

"We're arriving in the Capitol." I tell him.

"Lucky us." he says sarcastically. I go up to the window next to Cliff and start smiling weakly at the crowd. When they all cheer at that I leave the window.

"You better get cleaned up." says Tavish. "First impressions matter here."

I look down at myself. I'm wearing tattered jeans from District Seven and a green shirt with holes on the stomach and I still haven't even brushed my hair.

"Yeah, okay." I say leaving the room. When I get to by cabin I head to the dresser. I put on a nice clean light green shirt and a pair of brown jeans. I head to the bathroom and brush my teeth. I pick a brush and neatly put my hair in a simple ponytail. I get back to the main cabin just as we're had also gone to get cleaned up and we are as ready as we'll ever be to get off the train and into the Capitol.

Xander immediately starts ushering us to the Remake Center to get professionally cleaned up. My prep team is made up of two men and a woman. The woman is Pilar and the men are Aeneas and Augustus.

"Welcome to the Remake Center. We're all here to make you in perfect condition so that your stylist Julius can make you memorable to the sponsors."says Aeneas.

They get me to lay down naked on a table as they rip my leg hair off with warm wax and trim my hair into a perfect line. They all look like the rest of the Capitol, crazy makeup and hair and even baby-blue skin on Pilar. (Her dress actually kind of makes her look like a pillar.)

When they finish up they leave me naked on the table waiting for Julius. Some machine leaves a blue cover over me so I'm not completely naked.

"Well, I guess it's my turn to make you look pretty." says a voice I assume to be Julius.

I sit up and face him. He has a long, black fohawk gelled back to his neck, one nose ring and a simple jacket and jeans. His light brown eyes look even lighter with his hair. Overall he looked normal besides the fact it looked like he had all the skin on his face stretched back.

"I guess it is." I say. "I better not look ridiculous."

" I sure hope you don't," he says, smiling. "Follow me."

I wrap the cover around me and follow him. He leads me to a room that's labelled: District Seven

Female Dressing Room

He opens the door to reveal a beautiful dress. It's brown with marking like bark and it's very long but it's cut at the bottom to represent the roots of the tree. It has a amazing head dress of branches and leaves which change color like the seasons before falling off and growing back. Green, red,orange,yellow and then they all fall off only to be replaced by little buds that grow more. Four seasons in ten seconds.

It truly is beautiful.

 _Thanks for reading. Next chapter coming soon._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Tributes Parade

After I put the dress on Julius adjusts some things and adds some light makeup around my eyes. Plain black mascara and barely visible light green eyeshadow. He then curls my hair perfectly before delicately putting on my head dress.

"Everyone will remember you in that." he says looking at me from a distance.

"Thank you." I say.

We head out together where we are met by Cliff, (who looks awesome) his stylist Aeliana, (who looks like a doll) Travith (who looks drunk) and Xander. (who looks like Xander.)

"You two look like beautiful trees." says Xander. It's true I was dressed like a tree and Cliff had brown pants, a sleeveless green shirt and laurel wreaths on his biceps. (Which made them look bigger.)

Our chariot was black, pulled by beautiful brown stallions. While we're waiting I get glimpses of the other Tributes. The career from District One, Nixon I think, is covered from head to toe in gold and silver standing next to him is Elextra who is wearing a golden dress and a golden crown. The District Two male Tribute is dressed in white. White pants, white shirt and white shoes and the girl is wearing a white dress. Are they supposed to be marble. I think the boy's name is Zayden and the girl is Lilyith. I'm about to look a the District Three Tributes when Cliff and I start moving forward onto The Avenue of the Tributes. The crowds are screaming and cheering in awe at the costumes.

"Should we wave?" I ask.

"Sure." answers Cliff. We start waving and the crowd starts throwing flowers and jewels at us. They'll remember us all right.

We arrive at the President's podium and stop there.

"Welcome!" says President Dunsworth. "Tributes we welcome you to the 150th annual Hunger Games!" he says. The crowd cheers. "Your head Gamemaker, Fabian has wished me to wish you the best of luck and may the odds be _ever_ in your favor!"

Our horses begin to move again and we enter a very big open tunnel.

"You two were excellent." says Travith.

"Everyone loved you." says Xander.

"Now let's head up to the living quarters and get cleaned up before the replays." says Julius.

Everyone agrees so we take the elevator to the seventh floor. Where we are met by the most beautiful living space ever.

Just realized I was calling Travith, Tavish so sorry about that.


	6. CONFUSED

THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL CHAPTER!

After a recent review I've questioned. Is the 150th games a Quarter Quell? Yes or No?

Please leave a review.

Thanks.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Training

The living room is huge, the bedrooms are huge and the dining room is huge.

"And all made with state-of-the-art furnisher." finishes Xander.

We all sit down on the couch in front of the TV.

"And now we shall show the replays of the Reapings." announces Magus Flickerman. (Caesar Flickerman's son.) He looks exactly like his father did.

We watch the Reapings and since it's a Quarter Quell all the careers are volunteers. All they want is fame. We've watched all twenty-four Reapings and I still don't know everyone's names.

I go to bed after gorging myself on delicious delicacies.

" That was amazing!" I say to Cliff.

"Yeah." he says distractedly.

"Something's bothering you." I say.

"Kinsley. It's a Quarter Quell and there are five twelve year olds in these games. I couldn't kill them if my life depended on it." he says.

"Me either. But I guess that's what the games are about, right?" I say.

"I guess. Come on let's get some sleep. Training starts tomorrow."

"Okay. Goodnight." I tell him.

"Goodnight." he says walking up to his room. I walk up the stairs to my room and put my pyjamas on. I look in the mirror and think to myself.

"How could I kill anyone?" I head to my soft bed and fall asleep.

"Kinsley. You can win." says Jesper.

"Five twelve year olds Jesper. Five! I couldn't kill one." I say.

"You can win Kinsley!" he yells at me. Nixon walks up behind Jesper, knife at his throat.

"Kill them. All five of them!" he says.

"No!" I yell.

I wake up, screaming.

"It was just a dream. Just a dream." I tell myself, calming down a bit. "Jesper's not here. No one can hurt him."

In the morning I have a shower and put on my training clothes. A simple t-shirt and long pants with my District number one it.

When I get outside my room Cliff is just leaving his.

"Training's in half an hour. Go have some breakfast."

"Okay. Thanks." I say heading down to the dining area.

I have some eggs again and remember to use my utensils to eat.

"You're a fast learner." says Xander. I sneer at her.

So what's the plan for today?" I ask Travith.

"Learn new skills and maybe find some allies." he says taking a swig of alcohol.

"Okay." I say finishing off my eggs.

When Cliff and I are on our way down we stop at the second floor and two careers join us in the elevator.

"Nice outfit in the parade." says Zayden.

"Thanks." I say awkwardly.

"Don't brag so much." says Lilyith. "We all wanted as much attention as you got."

"Sorry." I say even more awkwardly.

"Oh now you're trying to be a sweetheart." says Zayden.

"I wasn't-" Ding! Goes the elevator.

"Watch your back in the arena." Zayden says before walking out of the elevator.

I look at Cliff who was standing very awkwardly in the corner.

"Come on. Let's go." I tell him and we head to the Training Center.

We enter through the doors into the Training Center, a massive gym with every weapon and survival skills imaginable.

We head over to the other Tributes and Cathia, the trainer, begins explaining.

"You will each have two mandatory evaluations, the rest will be individual. My advice is: Don't ignore the survival skills. I know you all want to grab a sword, but most of you will die of natural causes. 10% from infection, 20% from dehydration. The last rule is: No fighting with the other tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that later. Your training begins now." she finishes and everyone goes there own way.

I head to the fire lighting station and get that first try. The trainer was impressed. During night shifts in District Seven we often have to light fires. I move on to axes. I wouldn't be able to use that for my individual assessment because everyone from District Seven could do that. I throw some and hit bull's eye countless times before moving on to distinguishing poisonous plants from non-poisonous plants. I was having a hard time distinguishing stuff by a certain pattern on the leaf because I'm not very observant.

"Don't worry, you'll get it." the trainer tells me.

I head on to the mandatory obstacle course and get all the way through in 16:089 seconds.

I go to sword fighting but I'm terrible at it. I could barely lift the thing.

"Maybe knife throwing is more for you." the instructor suggests.

"Yeah, maybe." I say putting the sword on the floor. I hear a buzzer.

"Training is over." says a robotic voice.

I do the same thing the next day, train. I don't really talk to anyone but I train hard. Tomorrow we have the individual assessments. I want to be ready.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I thought it was a Quarter Quell, but someone said it wasn't. Obviously not a true Hunger Games fan. :)


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Individual Assessments

"Okay, so today you kids have the individual assessments. They're gonna take you in one by one and see what your best at. It's your turn to show off." explains Travith.

"Okay, so what should we do?" I ask.

"I don't know, throw some axes, climb trees or show them some new skills you just learned. What are some new skills you just learned?" he says.

"I can fight with a sword and throw a spear." says Cliff.

"I can throw knives and set traps." I say.

"Well, which one are you better at?" Travith asks.

"Knives, definitely." I say.

"Sword fighting." says Cliff which is definitely believable given the fact he's so strong.

"Well, show them those skills then." says Travith and heads back to his room.

We get to train in the morning so I practice setting traps just so people don't think I'm gonna throw knives. Meanwhile Cliff is throwing spears which suggests that he will use a sword during individual assessments. Just before training is over I head to the knives and throw a few, just to make sure I get used to the knives, Cliff does the same thing with the sword.

"Head to the dining hall. Each of you will be called in individually for your assessments." says the robotic voice. Everyone clears out to have lunch. Only the trainers remain.

I sit down and start eating when the first name is called.

"Elextra Nike, report for individual training."

She stands up tall and proud, glances around the room and walks off.  
She doesn't come back but fifteen minutes later the next name is called.

"Nixon Irving, report for individual training."

He stands up immediately and walks off. I begin chewing on my nails.

"What if I mess up." I think. "Don't think that way."

I focus on the task ahead. Ten more names are called and finally it's my turn.

"Kinsley Everhart, report for individual training." I stand up and give Cliff a nod as he wishes me luck. I head to the Training Center.

I look up at the Gamemakers. They're not quite entirely drunk but they've definitely been drinking.

"Kinsley Everhart. District Seven." I say.

"You have fifteen minutes." says Fabian.

I head to the throwing knives, I pick one up, take a deep breath and throw. Bull's eye. I throw a couple more bull's eyes and go and make a trap, it works perfectly.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

My time is up and I look up at the Gamemakers. They all look quite impressed.

"You may leave now." says Fabian. I do. I walk out the back door into the elevator and head to the seventh floor.

"I hope I was good enough." I say aloud. They would have had to be impressed. Five bull's eyes on five throws and a trap that works perfectly. That's got to be at least a nine.

The doors open into my room and Travith immediately asks me:

"How did it go?"

"Not bad." I say, trying to sound indifferent. "A few good throws and a pretty good trap."

"Good. I can work with anything above a seven." he says.

"Now we just have to wait for Cliff." says Xander.

So we do. We wait for about twenty minutes before he comes out of the elevator.

"How did it go?" asks Travith.

"Not bad. I think I was pretty good with the sword and a hit bull's eye once with the spear." he says, which I didn't believe one bit. He was probably amazing with the sword and hit five bull's eyes with the spear.

"The scores will be shown in an hour. Go get changed and have a shower or something." says Xander

An hour later we gather on the couch around the television.

"And now for the tribute's training scores!" announces Magus. "District One, Elextra Nike with a score of nine."

"Impressive." I say

"Yeah, not bad." says Cliff.

"District One, Nixon Irving with a score of ten." continues Magus.

"Well District One has some good tributes this year." says Travith.

"District Two, Lilyith Price with a score of ten. District Two, Zayden Argent with a score of ten."

"The careers are amazing this year!" I say.

"I have a feeling these games are going to be impressive." says Travith.

We continue watching. The tributes from three through six are five to eights. Except the District Four male who got a nine.

"District Seven, Kinsley Everhart with a score of," Magus pauses and I hold my breath."Twelve."

I gasp.

"Kinsley, that is a score I can work with, that's what I want." says Travith excitedly.

"District Seven, Cliff Waterstone with a score of," I look at Cliff who's staring intently at the screen. "Twelve." finishes Magus, shaking his head.

Xander stares at us in awe.

"Two twelves, I think we are going to have a Victor." she says.

"Nice job you two." says Julius, who I'd forgotten was there.

"Well Kinsley, now all we have to do is be amazing in the interviews and I think we get a 100% in impressing the Capitol." says Cliff. That was true. Our parade was amazing and our scores impressive, if we impress in the interviews tomorrow, we'll have a lot of sponsors.

I don't really pay attention to the rest of the scores, they vary from fours to sevens and no standouts.

I get to bed early, for tomorrow I have the interviews.

If you think I was being to nice on the scoring, please leave a review so I can improve for my next Hunger Games fanfiction. Thanks.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: The Interviews

I didn't have any dreams last night, so I sleep in a bit. The interviews aren't until 5:30 tonight.

I have a shower and get changed before heading down for breakfast.

"Good morning." says Cliff.

"Morning."

"It's afternoon." says Xander.

"Well, sorry we didn't get technical." I say looking at her. She just shakes her head.

I make myself eggs like usual and sit down across from Cliff.

"I can't wait to see our outfits for the interviews tonight." I say excitedly.

After lunch we head down the dressing rooms.

"So, what should we aim for in the interviews?" I ask.

"Lovable and desirable but strong and a fighter." says Travith.

"I think we can do that." says Cliff. Travith leaves to the bar, leaving Cliff and I alone waiting for Julius.

"It's like the closer we get to the games, the more unlike me I get. Farther away from home." says Cliff.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. I just want to be at home. Without the games. I wish that rebellion seventy-four years ago had won." I say, starting to cry.

"Hey, Kinsley. You can win this. I'll do anything to keep you alive. Anything." he says.

"Allies?" I say looking up at him.

"Allies."

Julius arrives with Cliff's stylist. Cliff follows his stylist and I go with Julius.

"Are you ready to see your dress?" he asks.

"Ready."

He opens the door to reveal a beautiful leafed dress. It's made of individual, fabric made, maple leaves.

"It's amazing. Julius, you're amazing." I say, examining it.

"There's nothing special about it. But sometime's it's the things that are overlooked that make something amazing." he says. "Well, let's make you beautiful."

I put on the dress and he hands me brown "bark" shoes. I slip them on and he puts slight outlining around my eyes.

"Well, tree girl. I think you're ready." he says.

"Thanks Julius. You've done it again." I say walking out the door. I find the other tributes. All of them look ready. I find Cliff and go in line in front of him.

"You look nice." he says.

"So do you."

He does too. A green muscle shirt and brown work boots and pants.

"Now, this girl did indeed electrify this nation when she volunteered for a twelve year old. From District One, Elextra." announces Magus.

Everyone in line moves up and I see Elextra on stage. She's wearing a golden dress that makes her sparkle.

"Elextra, what made you volunteer for that young girl back home?" asks Magus.

"Well, she's my best friend's sister and well, they don't have much money. Their father died in the games."

The statement was met by awe from the citizens. Three minutes Nixon goes on stage. He seems strong and aggressive.

Thirty-six minutes later it's my turn.

"Now, this girl came in to the Capitol like four seasons. You know her as Tree Girl who got a twelve in training. Kinsley Everhart!" yells Magus.

I step on to the stage, waving and smiling. My leaves changing colors in the light. Everyone cheers.

"Kinsley, please sit. How are you?"

"Well, it's been a lot. But, I think I'm ready."

The citizens cheer.

"Now, back home, is there someone you love?"

"Well, I like a few. But I don't love anyone."

"So you're single?"

"No."

"No. So you're taken." he says, confused

"No. I'm not single, I'm not taken, I'm just waiting for someone who deserves my heart."

The Capitol sighs in awe. The buzzer goes and the Capitol cheers.

I've done my job good.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: The Night Before the Games

Cliff does well in the interviews too.

We sit together, watching the parties in the Capitol.

"I'm not ready for this Cliff." I say, starting to cry.

"Hey, hey. How many of these tributes, besides the careers, want to be here." he says.

"I know. I'm sorry. We should get some sleep." I say standing up.

"See you tomorrow." he says.

"See you tomorrow."

I head to my room and stay awake the entire night.

I'm just gonna make some short chapters leading up to the Bloodbath.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Getting ready.

"Kinsley. Have some food. We need to be at the hovercraft in forty-five minutes." says Julius.

I put some clothes I find on and head downstairs. I nibble some cereal.

We head to the hovercraft and I board. It's a Quarter Quell, so each tribute get their own hovercraft.

They inject the tracker and we arrive at the Launch Station.

Julius puts me in this year's outfit. A light jacket and some wind pants.

"Good luck." he says.

"Thirty seconds." says a voice.

I get in the launch tube and go up.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: The Countdown

60…

Trees, lots of trees.

59…

In a tree.

58…

High up.

57…

I look down.

56…

The cornucopia on the grass.

55…

I look around.

54…

The tributes are in trees too.

53…

Cliff is next to me.

52…

This is an arena for District Seven.

51…

I give Cliff the sign of: Go to the bloodbath.

50…

He nods.

49…

People look nervous.

48…

They can't climb like Cliff and I.

47…

They might be afraid of falling.

46…

I spot a lake in the distance, to the north.

45…

I point it out to Cliff.

44…

He nods again.

43…

The careers are evaluating the situation.

42…

I'm starting to find suitable branches in my maple tree.

41…

The pedestals are on the twenty-four highest trees in the arena.

40…

I start finding axes in the cornucopia.

39…

A backpack.

38…

Some rope.

37…

I spot apple trees in the distance, near the lake.

36…

A mockingjay flies by.

35…

I spot a tracker jacker nest in Cliff's tree.

34…

He spots it too and nods.

33…

Medical herbs in the trees.

32…

I start getting nervous.

31…

Really nervous.

30…

There are squirrels in the trees.

29…

Lots of food sources.

28…

Sap and syrup in the trees.

27…

I wonder if Jesper is watching from home,

26…

or in the big screen in the town square.

25…

Either way, he'll be watching.

24…

Watching me die, I think to myself.

23…

No! I can do this.

22…

It starts to rain.

20…

The clouds block the sun.

19…

The wind is chilling against my face.

18…

My weather gear protects my body.

17…

I prepare to start climbing down

16…

And I wait for fifteen seconds.

15…

14…

13…

12…

11…

10…

9…

8…

7…

6…

5..

4…

3…

2…

1…

Bong!

The Games have begun.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: The Bloodbath

I climb down the tree as fast as I can. I get to the cornucopia first followed by Cliff.

I grab big backpack, some rope, five knives, which I put in the backpack. I grab two axes. Cliff is getting a sword to add to his three spears. The boy from District Four is running up behind him with a knife.

"Cliff! Behind you."

He unclips the sword and slashes at the boy who quickly recedes to the other side of the horn. Cliff has a backpack and three, two litre litre water bottles.

The careers start coming and I signal to Cliff to scram.

I spot a crate of food and race the girl from Four to get it. She gets there a split second before me but I slice her thigh with my axe. She screams, letting go of the crate. I grab it and run to the north of the clearing. I find Cliff and we catch our breath for a second.

We both have scrapes and bruises, but nothing serious.

"You good?" he asks.

"Yeah, you?" I say.

"Good. Ready to keep moving?"

We stand up and start heading north to where I saw the lake.

After about an hour, we start hearing canons. The Bloodbath had ended.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

"I counted five." I say.

"Me too." says Cliff.

We stop for a second to look at what we've got.

About ten feet of rope, two sleeping bags, a small tent, a pair of night vision goggles, three spears, one sword, two axes and five knives. We have the water bottles and some purifiers. In the crate we find an insulated "lunch box", some apples and some salted crackers.

"I say we did pretty good." says Cliff.

"Yeah, get to that lake, some water and I saw some apple trees around there."

Before moving on we gather some healing herbs and some blueberries.

We keep walking and find a narrow stream.

"We should follow it, It'll probably lead to the lake." I say.

We fill up our water bottles, purify them and Cliff spears two small salmon.

It keeps raining and we set up camp for the night.

I set up the tent while Cliff makes a very small fire. He creates a chimney into the ground so no smoke travels to where it's visible to everyone. He cooks the fish and we eat in the tent where I had laid out the sleeping bags. He throws the wood into the lake so nobody can find our tracks.

The anthem begins to play and we peek our head outside. Faces appear in the sky.

The boy from Three, speared, the girl from Four, slashed, the boy from Nine, poisoned and both from Twelve who fell from their trees to their death.

"So, all the careers are alive." I say.

"And so are we." says Cliff.

I go outside and camouflage our tent as a bush the best I can in the rain.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Day Two

During the night nothing had happened. I went to sleep and Cliff woke me up for my watch.

But now it's day two and we have to keep moving. We pack up our stuff and have three crackers each and an apple. We refill our water in the stream and keep following it. We left the crate behind and put the "lunch box" in my backpack.

Snap!

Snap!

Snap!

We hear branches on the ground breaking. But not from our feet.

"Climb!" I hiss at Cliff.

We climb up maple trees until we're concealed in the leaves.

The careers walk by.

"Where are they?" says Nixon. "That crate back there was empty and I'm pretty sure it didn't blow here from that stupid golden horn."

"We'll find them sooner or later. They may have gotten twelves in training, but we're still stronger." says Elextra.

They're hunting us down.

"Let's turn back and go back to the cornucopia, Butch will be waiting." says Zayden.

They turn around and walk back towards the south.

We wait fifteen minutes before climbing down again.

"Who's Butch?" I ask.

"The boy from Four, I think." he says.

We keep walking for hours before I see a clearing and the stream gets wider.

We're met by a beautiful lake surrounded by apple trees and wildflowers.

We pick more berries and head to the far side of the lake where there are willows.

"We should conceal our tent in there." says Cliff.

We do. I cover it with willow branches and the ones still on the tree camouflage it. We make a fire pit with a chimney leading to the ground.

Boom!

A cannon goes off and a hovercraft picks up someone in the middle of the twenty-four highest trees in the arena.

"Either one of the careers died, Butch or someone tried to steal from them and got killed." says Cliff.

"Yeah, probably."

Cliff catches more fish and I pick some apples.

For lunch we eat perch and freshly squeezed apple juice. We put the new apples in the "lunch box" and add some extra fish to our inventory.

It's finally sunny and warm and we take off our jackets.

We both take naps and go for a short swim and then dry in the sun.

Later on it starts raining again so we go inside.

The rain doesn't stop till late afternoon and the dirt is all muddy.

"Well, tributes this year sure won't have a shortage of water." I say. We laugh.

It starts getting windy again so we put our jackets back on.

"This is an interesting arena. It's exactly like back home in Seven. Rainy, sunny,windy. Rainy,sunny windy. With all the trees around it gives us a distinct advantage" says Cliff.

"Yeah, like at the Bloodbath we climb down fifty foot trees. Not everyone can do that." I say.

"Oh well. Anything to get us closer to home right."

"Yeah."

We have more fish for dinner. It's still raining and Cliff and I are getting bored. We just lie down in the tent doing nothing.

"Well, if that death was exciting enough for the Capitol, we should be safe from mutts for maybe a day." says Cliff.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Night Two

We have more fish for dinner.

"Man, I used to hate fish. But now that it's keeping us alive, my taste has changed." I say.

Cliff laughs and we keep eating.

It finally stops raining and we go outside to check it out. It's really dark out and the clouds are still grey.

"It's missing something." says Cliff.

"The stars. Back home we always have stars, no matter how rainy it was that day."

"I feel lost without them." says Cliff.

We decide we should go back inside before we start thinking about home too much.

We hear the anthem and look outside. The death today was the girl from District Six.

"She must have tried to steal from the careers." I say.

"Judging by the place of the hovercraft. But I don't think the careers could have made it back that fast. So either there was a trap, or it's Butch's kill." says Cliff.

"Yeah. I'll take first watch tonight."

During the night it sounds like there are wolves or coyotes nearby. But they never get too close.

After four hours, I start to get tired. I wake up Cliff and I go to sleep.

"There are already six dead. You're next." says Nixon.

"You think just because you get a twelve in training you can beat us." says Elextra.

They walk towards me with their swords. I'm gagged and bound to a tree and they start cutting me. Slowly and painfully.

I wake up screaming. Cliff jumps.

"I'm sorry. I just had a nightmare. I'm fine now, really."

"It's okay, I've had nightmares since the day I got reaped." he says.

"I guess I'm lucky. I've only had two."

Nothing interesting happened during the night and we decided to stay here.


	16. Chapter 15

Sorry for the delay, my computer was messed up and wouldn't let me open new tabs.

Chapter Fifteen: Day Three

We have some crackers, apples and apple juice for breakfast.

"Six dead in the first two days. Usually there's more than that." I say sipping my juice.

"Yeah, the deaths must be just exciting enough and have just enough time between them that the Capitol doesn't send out mutts." he says.

We finish our breakfast before hanging out outside.

"This arena seems too beautiful for people to be dying in it." says Cliff.

"Most arenas seem that way. That's what makes the games so cruel. One minutes your looking at a flower and two seconds later you get stabbed in the back. I hate it." I say.

"And that's what the Capitol wants. It's our punishment for not one, but two attempts to overthrow the Capitol." he says.

"But for what we do for them. We build stuff, we feed them and invent stuff for them and we get nothing." I say.

If we were on screen for a bit, we certainly won't be now. The citizens of the Capitol think we are well-fed and healthy as we cheerfully do their dirty work. "Ironically" it's the exact opposite. (Imagine that.)

It starts raining (I'm kinda getting tired of it now.) but we decide to stay outside for a bit.

"This arena has no lack of food or water. I guess the Capitol wants brutal deaths." I say and Cliff agrees.

"I'm gonna go start cooking-" he begins, when:

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

"Careers. That's who did that." we say at the same time.

"Eleven dead, thirteen to go." he says. "I'm gonna go start cooking the fish now."

I stay outside thinking about the Games.

"Cliff and I can't both survive. We know that. But we haven't been attacked once yet, besides the bloodbath. If the careers killed five people at once then there confidence will go up and would think they can beat anyone. Which is very arrogant of them."

I head inside to find a lovely meal waiting for me and Cliff sound asleep already.


	17. Chapter 16

Sorry this update took so long. I'm just really busy everyday.

Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen: Night Three

I eat up and stay awake for watch a bit before I start to get drowsy. I go to wake Cliff and hear a rustling outside. I peek outside but see nothing.

"Cliff." I say, nudging him.

"Cliff!" I say, more urgently, still trying to keep my voice down. He opens his eyes.

"What? Is it my watch?" he asks.

"There is someone or something outside." I whisper.

"Stay here." he says.

" You can't protect me forever Cliff."

"I can try." he says before going outside.

Boom!

The canon sounds.

"Cliff!" I shout, jumping outside.

"Kinsley! It's okay, I'm fine."

I see him just to the right of the tree. He's looking down at someone.

"The boy from Eleven. Poisoned, judging by the nightlock in his hand." he says, slightly nudging the boy's body with his foot."

"We should go inside so the hovercraft can come.

About ten seconds after the hovercraft leaves, the anthem begins and we look at the night sky.

The girls from Three, Eight and Ten were all speared and the boys from Five and Ten were stabbed. And then as we suspected, the boy from Eleven was poisoned.

"Twelve down, eleven to go." he says, still looking at the sky.

"About what you said earlier. About how you gonna try to protect me forever. Why? Why would you do that?" I ask him. "Because, I don't want you too. I love you."

"And that's why I want to protect you. Because I love you."

"Only one of us can go home." I say.

"And it's gonna be you." we say at the same time. We stare at each other for a bit before he leans in and kisses me right on the lips.

"I'll watch tonight." he says. So I snuggle up in my sleeping bag, but I quickly get too hot because I already had a warm feeling from the kiss. I think about Cliff and quickly fall asleep.


End file.
